teddy bear den - fbla-pbl...we run the teddy bear den from 6-7 p.m. on tuesday evenings to provide a...

TEDDY BEAR DEN Cedar City, UT

Southern Utah University Community Service Project

2015-2016

PBL Community Service Project Southern Utah University 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Purpose of Project.............................................................................................................................. 2

Statement of Project Goals ................................................................................................... 2-3

Service to the Community and its Citizens ........................................................................... 3-4

Planning and Development of Project ............................................................................................... 5-7

Implementation of Project ................................................................................................................. 7-8

Impact and Benefits to the Community ............................................................................................. 9-10

Evidence of Publicity .......................................................................................................................... 10

Appendix ............................................................................................................................................ 11-12

Works Cited ........................................................................................................................................ 13


PURPOSE OF PROJECT

Statement of Project Goals

Mahatma Gandhi stated, “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” The Southern Utah

University PBL chapter set out in 2011 to establish a Teddy Bear Den in Cedar City, Utah. The purpose of

this project was to make a

difference in the community

and provide support for those

who cannot do so themselves.

With this project in place and

running as a nearly self-

sustaining project, our goal is

to make it run effectively. Over

the last few years, great effort has been put into the project and in order to keep the project going, we

established a few main goals for the year. The following were our main goals for the 2015-2016 school

year:

Work with the community to organize donation drives and community baby showers

Obtain and organize donations to stock the Teddy Bear Den

Create volunteer opportunities for community members and students

Work with the Intermountain Valley View Medical Center education center to create awareness

Continue to make a difference in the lives of people in the community

Ultimately, we want to continue to impact the lives of women in the community and by keeping the

Teddy Bear Den in place, we are helping to do just that. The Teddy Bear Den motivates low-income


expecting mothers to make healthy changes in their lives, affecting themselves and their baby.

Hopefully, these changes will continue for their rest of their lives.

Service to the Community and Its Citizens

The Teddy Dear Den is a March of Dimes program designed to serve low-income pregnant

women throughout the community. This program is an incentive for these expecting mothers to take

care of themselves and their child, whether the child is unborn or an infant. As a result, March of Dimes

and the Teddy Bear Den hope to increase the number of healthy births. After being referred to the

program by a clinic, hospital, or health agency, the expecting mother is given a client booklet. This

booklet allows them to keep track of points they earn for healthy behaviors during and after their

pregnancy. Healthy behaviors include

activities such as attending prenatal care

appointments, participating in prenatal

education classes, earning a GED, not

smoking, breastfeeding, etc. Once the

client has accomplished one of the

previous activities, the doctor, or

authorized individual, initials next the activity in the book. These initials earn the clients points. These

points can then be redeemed at the Teddy Dear Den for items they need to take care of their baby.

Diapers, infant clothing, baby blankets, hygiene items, diaper bags, and other items can be redeemed

with the earned points. These free baby care items help relieve some of the financial burdens associated

with caring for a child. The clients are able to earn points in this program until their baby is 12 months

old and have an addition few months to spend the points.

Prenatal care is an important part of an unborn child’s life. It protects against birth defects,

premature birth, and infant mortality. In the year 2013, there were 50,913 births in the state of Utah.


Infant mortality, the number of infants who died between birth and age 1, was 262. Fetal deaths,

otherwise known as stillborn, were 296. The Teddy Bear Den is a program striving to reduce infant

mortality, fetal deaths, and premature births. This project also works to provide prenatal education

information, education materials, and other resources and referrals that help clients take good care of

themselves and their babies. The Teddy Bear Den in Cedar

City is one of three Teddy Bear Dens located in Utah. Our

focus is to serve Iron County, Utah. We hope that our success

will encourage others to start a Teddy Bear Den in their own

community to help educate low-income, expecting mothers.

In 2014, a Teddy Bear Den location was opened in Ogden, UT

and we hope to see increased success in this program across

the state. Table 1 is a summary of Iron County demographics

as of June 2014. Included are totals of the Iron County population and number of households, along with

low-income household demographics. For this project, we considered households with an income

between $0 and $24,999 to be low-income. We continue to strive to reach these low-income expecting

mothers, so that they can benefit from this program.

Table 1

Iron County Demographics 2000 Census % Change 2010 Census % Change 2014 Estimate

Population 33,779 27.10 46,163 2.4% 47,269

Household Income 2000 Census % 2010 Census % 2014 Estimate %

$0-$14,999 1,853 17.40 1,902 4.12% 2,064 4.37%

$15,000-$24,999 1,911 18.00 2,038 4.41% 2,150 4.55%

$0-$24,999 3,764 35.40 3,940 8.53% 4,214 8.91%


PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT OF PROJECT

Due to the success of the Teddy Bear Den over the last few years, our PBL chapter realized the

great importance in continuing the project. We have many dedicated members who were willing to put

forth extra time and effort to running, stocking, sorting, and

keeping the Teddy Bear Den going. We also held joint

activities for sorting with other groups on campus. We

wanted to make sure that our community was able to

continue to benefit from this great program. To keep this

effort going, we have continued to host baby showers,

donation drives and give presentations. Since the beginning,

we have encountered many location changes and are

currently in our third location where we are to stay. Our

current location with the Intermountain Valley View Education Center has offered great benefits and we

have been able to increase the awareness of the program through presentations in prenatal classes.

In the beginning stages of the Teddy Bear Den, we hosted a student community baby shower

and although it was a success, we have found that most of our donations come from the surrounding

community. Since, we have worked with

Cedar High School to host more baby

showers and have worked with local

church groups to hold donation drives.

Everyone has been very enthusiastic

about helping us to stock the Teddy Bear

Den. The church groups we have worked

with have all expressed what a great program the Teddy Bear Den is and jumped at the chance to


participate. Between our own efforts, the help of Cedar High School and the local church groups, we

were able to schedule two baby showers and many donation drives in the 2015-2016 school year.

A community baby shower is an

event where baby items and cash are

donated by members of the community

to the Teddy Bear Den. It is typically a

one-time event with invitations,

refreshments and a theme. The shower

can be done by one person or a team

and anyone can host one. This greatly assists us in stocking the Teddy Bear Den as donations are a

necessity to keep the program running. We also host donation drives where we work with groups to

host an on-going event with drop-off locations, pick-up dates and times. These drives and community

baby showers are our primary way of stocking the Teddy Bear Den and have been able to help us keep

the program established and running.

Once we established a way to

continue stocking the Teddy Bear Den,

our next focus was on finding

volunteers to run the Teddy Bear Den.

Headed by Kelsey Haddox, we were

able to coordinate with various groups

across campus to assist PBL members in

volunteering at the Teddy Bear Den. It is a group effort to keep it up and running.

The final step, was to work with the Intermountain Valley View Medical Education Center to

create a greater awareness of the project. As each new prenatal and family class starts, we give a short


presentation on the Teddy Bear Den. Included in this presentation is an explanation of how to qualify

and get started. For those who do not qualify, we also discuss the importance of the project and how

they can get involved in other ways such as donating and volunteering time. We strive to keep a strong

presence and connection in the education and have also begun to branch out to other entities in town

such as the family services center that often works with homeless or struggling women and children in

Iron County. Our goal is to really reach out to as many as possible with these presentations.

IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECT

The first goal was to work with local church groups

to host community baby showers and donation drives.

These groups were very excited and more than willing to

help keep the Teddy Bear Den initiative going. During this

school year, we hosted two community baby showers, and

many donation drives. The community baby showers and

drives have been very successful at raising money and donations to stock the Teddy Bear Den as well as

raising general awareness.

At the community baby showers, donation drives and presentations, we are able to inform

community members and clinics about the

Teddy Bear Den. The baby showers and

drives we held this year were held off-

campus at local churches. The PBL members

were able to give a short presentation on the

Teddy Bear Den and answer any questions.

The community shower attendees were

learn more about the impact their contributions were having in our community. After the presentation,


and question and answer session, PBL members interacted with the community members.

Refreshments were provided by the hosting group and donations were collected.

The Teddy Bear Den has been a great way to involve Southern Utah University organizations and

students with the community. The project has given SUU PBL members the opportunity to be involved in

the community and work with the local hospital and clinics. Clients can come to the Intermountain

Valley View Education Center on specified nights to redeem their points for items.

We changed our hours

to be consistent and offer

appointments at other times.

We decided that in order to

better benefit the mothers

involved in this program,

flexible hours would be the

best with a consistent night

to make sure they are being

serviced. We run the Teddy Bear Den from 6-7 p.m. on Tuesday evenings to provide a consistent time

and provide the opportunity for clients to call in and make appointments if the specified time does not

fit their schedule or they are in need sooner than the scheduled Tuesday time. This gives the clients a

few options with convenience to come exchange their earned points for supplies they will need. We

continue to work with community members to stock the den and obtain donations so it can run

effectively.


IMPACT AND BENEFITS TO THE COMMUNITY

Our ultimate goal was to continue to make a difference in the lives of people in the community,

specifically women and their children. The Teddy Bear Den has had a great impact in the community and

will continue to benefit all those involved. Time and time again, we hear mothers talk about how great

the program is and what a great help it would have been during their previous pregnancies.

Every doctor in Cedar City who accepts

Medicaid is participating by referring clients to the

Teddy Bear Den. There are five offices in Cedar City

that accept Medicaid. This results in a total of 10

doctors who are involved in the program and this is a

growing number. We are also beginning to work with

other entities to refer clients in need.

Not only does the Teddy Bear Den help clients,

it also benefits the community. After informing the

citizens of Cedar City about the Teddy Bear Den, there has been an excitement in the community to help

those in need. We have been approached by multiple individuals at community baby showers to know

what steps needed to be taken to host a community baby shower and of additional ways to support the

Teddy Bear Den. It is a great cause for the citizens of Cedar City to rally around.

We currently have over 1,000 items at the Teddy Bear Den. This is a result of the excitement

surrounding this program. As this program encourages women to make healthy changes in their lives,


they will receive the items they need to take care of their baby. They will not have to worry about the

financial burdens of having a child. They will be

able to focus on themselves and their babies.

Overall, this program has greatly impacted and

benefited our community. We hope to continue

to grow the Teddy Bear Den to provide

necessities to low-income expecting mothers. As

we grow, we hope more will join the cause as clients and contributors. We want to set an example for

other communities to start their own Teddy Bear Dens throughout the state of Utah.

EVIDENCE OF PUBLICITY

Publicity has been important to the success of the Den. We have been published multiple times

in the local newspapers. We hope increase the amount of publicity we are currently getting with the use

of our website. The Appendix is evidence of our newspaper articles in the local and university paper and

our website.


APPENDIX

Above: Article from Iron County Today Above Right: Article on the front page of Daily News (The Spectrum) Right: Article on the front of the SUU Journal


APPENDIX CONTINUED

Right: Article from Iron County Today Below: Cedar City Teddy Bear Den

Website


WORKS CITED

“Iron County, Utah Quick Facts.” United States Census Bureau. 2 December 2015. Web. 16 February

2016.

May, Heather. "Utah Earns a 'B' for Premature Birth Rate." The Salt Lake Tribune. N.p., 14 Nov. 2012.

Web. 05 Mar. 2013.

Utah Department of Health. "Births and Deaths 2013." Utah's Vital Statistics, 2013. Web. 17 February

2016.

teddy bear den - fbla-pbl...we run the teddy bear den from 6-7 p.m. on tuesday evenings to provide a...

Documents